Lindsey Vonn's stand-in? Julia Mancuso aims to take Sochi by storm

Ski queens – Normally U.S. teammates, Julia Mancuso (left) will be the one going for gold in Sochi while the injured Lindsey Vonn (right) will watch at home as a TV correspondent.

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Julia Mancuso: Smiling all the way to Sochi8 photos

Big-time performer – Mancuso, who turns 30 in March, has already had an illustrious career. She has won three Olympic medals and another five at the alpine skiing world championships.

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Julia Mancuso: Smiling all the way to Sochi8 photos

On the podium – (From left to right) Mancuso finished half a second behind Vonn in the women's downhill at the last Olympics in Vancouver, but was a further second quicker than bronze medalist Elisabeth Gorgl.

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Julia Mancuso: Smiling all the way to Sochi8 photos

Breakthrough success – But arguably the highlight of her career to date came four years earlier when she won gold at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.

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Julia Mancuso: Smiling all the way to Sochi8 photos

Sun solution – Mancuso has endured an up-and-down 2013-14 but insists she has recaptured her best rhythm since returning to her Maui home in Hawaii for a mid-season break.

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Julia Mancuso: Smiling all the way to Sochi8 photos

Back on track – She made her World Cup return to action in the New Year in Austria, and has since registered her first top-10 finishes this season.

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Julia Mancuso: Smiling all the way to Sochi8 photos

Wide interests – Off the snow, Mancuso designs underwear and has modeled. Asked how to define herself, she said that was impossible with so many strings to her bow.

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Julia Mancuso: Smiling all the way to Sochi8 photos

Glamor couple – Mancuso was in a four-year relationship with fellow skier Svindal Aksel Lund until they split in 2013. Here they attend the 2011 wedding of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Princess Charlene.

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Story highlights

Julia Mancuso is hoping to fill the Winter Olympics void left by the injured Lindsey Vonn

The 29-year-old won a gold medal in 2006 and two silvers at Vancouver 2010

Her alternative Sochi preparations have involved escaping to Hawaii mid-season

From a rough start -- her dad was jailed for drug smuggling -- she has made it to the top

While U.S. sports fans were coming to terms with the news that glamor girl Lindsey Vonn would miss the Winter Olympics, the woman who could again prove to be the nation's skiing sweetheart was relaxing on a beach.

Vonn had been ruled out of a trip to Sochi by a serious knee injury, and things weren't going well for Julia Mancuso either.

Frustrated by a difficult start to the World Cup season, the three-time Olympic medalist had escaped the cold to regroup at her Hawaii hideout.

While her rivals were fine-tuning their technique on the slopes, she was bedecked in a bikini and plunging into the clear waters that surround Maui.

"It's definitely alternative but it's what I needed," Mancuso told CNN. "It felt good. I'd had equipment issues and had been changing ski boots all the time. So for one I just decided to stick with one ski boot and that's the decision, that's great.

"Part of it, is that when things go wrong, you think of everything possible is wrong, like the boots or whatever.

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"I went back home and sure I had some concerns. But I got my head round it."

The break helped -- since returning on January 11, Mancuso has managed her first three top-10 finishes of the season and been confirmed in the U.S. team for Sochi alongside 18-year-old sensation Mikaela Shiffrin, who is already a world champion in the slalom discipline.

"I'm ready, I'm in a good place and I still feel I can get medals in Sochi, multiple medals in my three events," Mancuso says, brimming with confidence.

"It just depends how the days go. What I've learned in my career is that anything is possible. In Sochi, it will just depend how the days go."

Mancuso, who won giant slalom gold in 2006 and two silvers in 2010, is used overcoming mixed performances in her Olympic buildups.

Before Turin, she only hit form on the eve of the Games and triumphed despite knee pain, while come Vancouver she had not managed a top-three finish in a World Cup event for two years because of back problems.

"What I've done in the Olympics for sure gives me great confidence," she admits. "But I don't plan on suddenly doing that just because I'm at an Olympics.

"I'm just trying the best I can in every race. I don't think there's any secret. Sometimes things don't go your way and sometimes they do."

Four years ago, she finished second in the downhill behind Vonn at Whistler -- but couldn't get within half a minute of her teammate's winning time despite making "the run of my life."

Last March, she took third place at the world championships in the Super-G race where Vonn earlier crashed and tore her knee ligaments.

They are both the same age -- 29 -- but Mancuso has been unable to match Vonn's incredible consistency on the World Cup circuit, which has brought her six overall titles and 59 race wins.

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American skier Lindsey Vonn clinched World Cup victory No. 62 on Sunday, January 18, equaling the all-time record that has stood for 35 years. Vonn's road to recovery from a serious injury has been a long and painful one.

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Lindsey Vonn's comeback on ice8 photos

Hospital dash after the crash – Vonn had to be airlifted off the slopes at the 2013 World Championships after a horrific knee injury, which led to a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

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Lindsey Vonn's comeback on ice8 photos

Rehab and recovery – Vonn's rehabilitation was overseen by both Red Bull and the U.S. Ski team, a case of a slowly-slowly approach to make sure no further damage was done to the joint.

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Lindsey Vonn's comeback on ice8 photos

Testing the nearly new knee – Vonn made a sensational return to action the following August at a U.S. team training camp in Chile's Andes Mountains. She insisted her damaged right knee felt as good as her unaffected left knee.

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Lindsey Vonn's comeback on ice8 photos

A sporting romance – Vonn's attempted return to competitive skiing has come under heightened scrutiny because of her relationship with the world's top-ranked golfer Tiger Woods.

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Lindsey Vonn's comeback on ice8 photos

Knee jerk reaction – Vonn stretches her troublesome knee as she prepares for downhill training at Copper Mountain, Colorado -- but it's one step forward two steps back for the 29-year-old as she aggravates the injury.

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Lindsey Vonn's comeback on ice8 photos

Gathering pace – There are celebrations at last for the Olympic champion as she finishes fifth in December's Super-G at the World Cup in Lake Louise, Canada.

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Lindsey Vonn's comeback on ice8 photos

No hope on the slope – There is more misfortune as Vonn pulls out of a downhill race in December. She announces in January 2014 that she will not defend her downhill title at February's Winter Olympics in Russia.

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EXPAND GALLERY

"I'd be lying if I said Lindsey not being there (at Sochi) doesn't help," Mancuso says. "It's been so tough for her this year with her injury and not knowing whether she would compete. But as a competitor it's definitely one less rival for me.

"Look at Vancouver. I had the run of my life. I was a second quicker than the next girl and Lindsey was still better. So this is obviously a huge opportunity for me."

Without Vonn in her way in the downhill, life is certainly easier. The pair have had their ups and downs in the past but there has always been a mutual respect between them, and they had been training together until Vonn's latest setback.

"She can be so consistent and that's incredible," says Mancuso. "Because of that, she's such a great athlete."

"I want to help inspire and I think the other American girls can do really well. We just need to be supportive," she says.

"The pressure is before getting to Sochi, making sure everything is aligned. When I get to Sochi, I'll relax. I'll have no fear as everything will work out how it's supposed to."

The Olympics have been dangled in front of her as long as she can remember, the signs still standing on the slopes at Squaw Valley where she learned to ski -- and which hosted the 1960 Winter Games.

Her upbringing in the Lake Tahoe area was far from normal. At the age of five, her father Ciro was arrested and sentenced to nine years in prison for his part in a $140 million cannabis smuggling racket.

Lanzinger back from the brink 9 photos

Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

Back from the brink – Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger is targeting gold in the Paralympics at Sochi. His journey to the Winter Olympics has been nothing short of remarkable...

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

Happy days – Matthias Lanzinger celebrates the best result of his skiing career, a podium finish at the Super-G in Beaver Creek, Colorado, back in December 2005.

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

High speed crash – But his skiing career and his life completely changed when he crashed at speed during the Super-G World Cup race at Kvitfjell back in March 2008.

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

Emergency treatment – The Austrian skier had to be stretchered down the mountain by the medical back-up teams on the slopes to have emergency treatment at the nearby hospital.

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

Memory loss – A bloodied Lanzinger has absolutely no memory of his accident and even now has not dared to watch it back five years after the event.

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

Amputation – The crash saw him taken to hospital where after a series of operations resulted in his leg being amputated, with doctors worried not doing so would result in death.

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

New turning – Three years on from the accident, Lanzinger returned to skiing competitively, switching his goals in Sochi from the Olympics to the Paralympics.

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

Sochi goal – Lanzinger admitted to being nervous on his return to the slopes but has grasped the opportunity firmly and is now targeting Sochi in his second skiing career.

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Lanzinger back from the brink9 photos

Medal ambition – Lanzinger's return to the sport has got increasing media publicity and he has now set his sights on winning medals at the Paralympics in Russia.